ABSTRACT

Poverty is general phenomenon in less developed countries including Nigeria. It is a common problem that cannot be easily wiped out but can be alleviated through concerted effort by stake holders. The problem of poverty has brought about low standard of living of people in both rural and urban area that attention of individual, Federal, States and Local Government has been drawn to alleviate it to better the living standard of the rural area. This work was undertaken to look into the poverty alleviation programes by Local Government in Kogi State of Nigeria. The work was divided into five chapterswith each chapter dealing with specific issues on how to alleviate poverty. In chapter one, four research questions and four hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. In chapter two of this work, literatures relevant to the study were reviewed. In chapter three, the location of the area of study and general information was stated. In chapter four, Questionaires was used as the major instrument for data collection subsequently the data were analysed. The findings of the study showed that poverty alleviation programmes exists in all the Local Government area of the State, but the target people did not benefit from the programme because the structure that will enable them to benefit is not in place. Most respondent complained that the implementation of the poverty alleviation programmes stopped at the State Headquarter. The study recommended in chapter five a solid structure that will enable the target audience benefit from the poverty. Alleviation programmes, mass literacy campaign, provision of loans to farmers and reduction in tax as some of the measures that can be taken to alleviate poverty.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page ———————————————————————i Approval page —————————————————————ii Acknowledgement———————————————————-iii Abstract ———————————————————————-iv Table of contents ————————————————————v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study ————————————————-1 1.2 Statement of the problem ————————————————6 1.3 Objective of the study —————————————————-7 1.4 Significance of the study ————————————————-8 1.5 Scope and limitation of the study —————————————9 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Concept of poverty ——————————————————–11 2.2 Causes of poverty ———————————————————-22 2.3 Poverty incidence in Nigeria ———————————————-29 2.4 Infrastructures and poverty alleviation in Nigeria Local Government—31 2.5 Poverty alleviation in Nigeria ———————————————33 2.6 Government programmes and polities related to poverty ————-42 2.7 Current trends at poverty reduction ————————————–47 2.8 The Local Government system in Nigeria ——————————50 2.9 The functions of Local Government ————————————53 2.10 Methodology —————————————————————56 CHAPTER THREE The study area/general information ——————————————-59 CHAPTER FOUR 4.1 Data presentation and analysis ——————————————–61 4.2 Discussion on the findings ————————————————70 CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary ———————————————————————75 5.2 Conclusion ——————————————————————-76 5.3 Recommendations ———————————————————-78 References ———————————————————————–80 Questionnaire ——————————————————————–87